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The case brought dozens of people to the Pages' Santa Clarita neighborhood to demonstrate against plans to move Lexi. That figure means that Lexi's home placement is dictated by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. But 6-year-old Lexi's foster family says the application of the law in . The Pages have appealed the case to the California Supreme Court. And Lexi is part Choctaw, a federally recognized American Indian tribe, which means the Indian Child Welfare Acts placement preferences applied. Lexi's foster dad, Rusty, sobs after she is driven away March 21, 2016 in Santa Clarita, Calif. Schools on Native American reservations in state of disrepair, Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect. The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. In the meantime, our clients hope that the family in Utah will follow through on their promise to keep Lexi in contact with her family in Los Angeles. "How is it that a screaming child, saying, 'I want to stay, I'm scared,' how is it in her best interest to pull her from the girl she was before that doorbell rang?" Last March, she was taken from her foster home near Los Angeles, and a state appeals court in July upheld the girl's removal from the Page home. IE 11 is not supported. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. At issue is the Indian . Still, Lexis story is reigniting tensions over the purpose of the ICWA and thorny questions over its role in determining the best interests of Indian children. The family's lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. We believe that following the Choctaw Nations values is in Lexis best interest.". Live footage on our Facebook page. The Page family loves you.. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. Opinion. The standard is supposed to be the best interest of the child, and thats why these things have to be judged on a case-by-case basis., The Choctaw Nation declined to make the Utah family available for comment, citing concerns over Lexis safety. Lexi is now living with relatives of her father who are not Native American. . But this case shines a bright light on the ways in which the law in its current form is routinely being misinterpreted, with devastating consequences for families and children. I'm scared. Hernandez isn't Native American, but the biological father is from Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, Texas. There is still considerable disagreement over the application of the law and whether it serves children's best interest, said Ralph Richard Banks, a professor at Stanford Law School. Maddie cant fathom it, and she asks us why, and the fact of the matter is that I cant tell her why, because I cant fathom it.. The law has led to some emotional, high-profile cases, including one in 2016 in which a court ordered that a young Choctaw girl named Lexi be removed from a California foster family and placed with her fathers extended family in Utah. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By
"The foster family was well aware years ago this girl is an Indian child, whose case is subject to the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act," the National Indian Child Welfare Association said in a statement. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . She says she's an apple, red on the outside, white on the inside.". This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Remember that LA County placed this little girl in foster care with our clients after she had suffered two years of neglect and abuse. Interest in the case had been high, with outpourings of support for the couple from around the world. Lexi clutched a teddy bear and cried as she was taken from the Pages' home on March 21 as neighbors prayed and sang hymns in support of the family. / CBS/AP. "It would be fairly extraordinary for an appeals court to reverse that," he said. A California appeals court affirmed in July a lower court's decision to remove the girl. But other experts say that placing children with relatives is the goal of foster care and adoption, and even non-Indian kids are better off with relatives. 19:37 GMT 09 Jan 2017 Lexi is a 6-year-old girl from California who has spent the the majority of her life in a loving home - a home that she wanted to be her forever home. But placement with family is always our priority. ###. The Librettis in Nevada arranged with a pregnant woman, Altagracia Hernandez, to adopt her unborn child. Its a crusade to them. One of the Pages attorneys, Lori Alvino McGill, also represented the adoptive family in the Baby Veronica case. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. The tribe at first said she wasn't eligible for membership but later reversed course. In the days after losing their legal battle, the Pages addressed an online petition called Keep Lexi Home to several California and LA DCFS officials. The case was one of dozens of cases involving foster families have gone to court around the country after the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. They said they wanted to adopt the girl. The attorneys who brought this case to the high court made clear from the beginning that their goal was not only to remove Lexi from her [extended] family, but to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act.. What happened yesterday should never happen, to any child. They are taking her! I sat them all down on our couch, and said Daddy needs to tell you something, and Lexi turned pale white and started hysterically crying, and our older daughter started screaming at the top of her lungs, he said. Our hearts are broken and we are trying to make sense of everything that has happened with our three other children who witnessed their sister Lexi forcefully ripped away from our family by strangers," the Page family said in a statement Monday night. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream. Dozens of supporters also surrounded the Pages home Monday in an attempt to block LA DCFS officers. The state Supreme Court declined to review the case, clearing the way for the family to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. There is still considerable disagreement over the application of the law and whether it serves children's best interest, said Ralph Richard Banks, a professor at Stanford Law School. Her family will provide her a safe, stable and nurturing home to grow up with her sisters and to have contact with her extensive extended family. "The Pages were always aware that the goal was to place Lexi with her family, and her permanent placement has been delayed due to the Pages opposition to the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Choctaw Nation echoed in a statement. The latest case centers on Chad and Jennifer Brackeen, a Texas couple who fostered a baby eligible for membership in both the Navajo and Cherokee tribes. "The Choctaw Nation has advocated for Lexi to live with her family since 2011," the tribe said in a statement. Lexi, a six-year-old with one-and-a-half per cent Choctaw blood has been removed from her foster parents of five years Protesters tried to stop government officials from taking the child from. Lexi clutched a teddy bear and cried as she was taken from the Pages' home on March 21 as neighbors prayed and sang hymns in support of the family. Read More One of Lexis biological sisters, who is Choctaw, lives with the Utah family, and another lives nearby. "The fear is without the statute, Indian children will once again sort of disappear into the child welfare system and be lost to their families and their tribes," said Adam Charnes, who will present arguments on behalf of five intervening tribes before a panel of the 5th U.S. Please enter valid email address to continue. Her . The placement preferences are just that -- preferences-- and they apply only when a child is in need of a placement. Testimony in Congress showed that was due to ignorance of tribes' values and social norms. Sleep is overrated. After leaving the boat, Lexi decided to completely leave the yachting industry. The foster family understood this. . They say tribes are a political classification, not a racial one, and overturning the Indian Child Welfare Act would lead to untold damage in tribal communities. Under the transfer, Lexi will live with a Utah couple who are not Native Americans but are related by marriage to her father. Associated Press
They were also designed to give state courts flexibility to depart from the placement preferences where there is "good cause" to do so. Lexi was taken from the Page home on Monday afternoon, Armand Montiel, a public affairs director with LA DCFS, told NBC News. Dave Grohl Hauls Big BBQ Smoker to LA Shelter to Feed People Amid Storm, 5 Freeway Closed North of LA Due to Snow and Poor Visibility, Avalanche Blocks Road in Mount Baldy Area After Cold Storm Drops Several Feet of Snow, 2 Arrested in Stabbing Death of Father on Downtown LA Street, March 1983: The Day a Rare Tornado Rampaged Through Los Angeles. She was placed with extended family in Utah under a decades-old federal law designed to keep Native American families together. The Brackeens got an emergency stay and went to court. When the grandmother died, Maldonado's mother was sent to live in Indiana with a Mennonite family who put bleach on her skin to lighten it, told her to say she was Armenian and kept her from communicating with her family, she said. Lawmakers found that Native American families were broken up at disproportionately high rates, and that cultural ignorance and biases within the child welfare system were largely to blame. The wrenching dispute echoes themes of the 2013 Baby Veronica case, in which an adoptive family sued for custody of a young Cherokee girl after her biological father renounced paternal rights. Santa Clarita, Calif., March 21, 2016, PEZ Cancels Easter Egg Hunt After Parents Cause Huge 'Mess', How We Can Learn to Live with COVID-19 After Vaccinations. The Pages were always aware of this goal. "There's no doubt in my mind that what happened . ", The National Indian Child Welfare Association said in a statement that the Pages were aware for years that the girl was an American Indian but chose to "drag out litigation as long as possible, creating instability for the child. The Pages have fought efforts under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to place Lexi with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. Our family is so incredibly devastated, Rusty Page said in a video statement. We, as a tribe, are required to follow federal law. In 2015, the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued guidance on implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act - clarifying that tribes alone are responsible for determining who is a member. By George F. Will. Copyright 2023 by The Associated Press. A happy, thriving six-year-old girl was forcibly removed from the people she knows as her parents because of a terribly misguided interpretation of a federal law that was designed to keep families together, not tear them apart. (TR Knight) in a December 2020 episode. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. They fought for you, supporters screamed at the car, as officers prepared to pull away. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. The Pages were always aware of this goal. After she left Croatia last year, Lexi jetted off to Saint Lucia, where she spent her birthday. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Lexi and her . "Early this morning, we learned that the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear our case," the Pages wrote in a statement on the SaveOurLexi Facebook page. Official Statement from Lori Alvino-McGill representing The Page Family's Legal Team. "To Lexi this family is her everything . Images of the girl being carried away from her foster home drew widespread attention. The foster parents spoke out Thursday morning during a news conference in front of the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles, just a day after the California Supreme Court refused to intervene in their battle over Lexi, who is part Choctaw. She has woken up in their home every Christmas morning she can remember, and she has grown up over the past four years with three siblings who are her best friends and playmates. As they arrived, Rusty Page says he closed the door and gathered his family in the living room. "The law is very clear that siblings should be kept together whenever they can be, and they should be placed together even if they were not initially together," Heimov told the Los Angeles Daily News (http://bit.ly/1pYtXlg ). Rusty and Summer Page of Santa Clarita, California, have long fought to gain custody of Lexi, 6, who is 1.56 percent Choctaw Native American. The California court appointed a marriage and family therapist to perform a child custody evaluation to assess the mental health and parenting practices of both parties. Her name is Lexi," the petition said. The law allows states to deviate from placement preferences when there is "good cause." The experts along with Lexi's long-time individual therapists, her social worker and her attorney, all agree it is in her best interest to be with her relatives. The Choctaw Nation issued a press release saying it was "pleased that this lengthy and unnecessary litigation has been brought to an end by the U.S. Supreme Court. Lexi is part Native American and was given . This existing Indian family doctrine is a subject of conflict in the lower courts, the Pages petition said, and warrants review. The Pros and Cons of Staying in a Business Hotel, The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Crabs and Lobsters Delivered Right to Your Door, Golden Rule Quotes Meaning and Their Implementation. The family has been waiting for five years for all of them to be together. The Pages' case to get Lexi back went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. In an official statement (via TVLine), Leigh shared she made the decision that season 8 was going to be her last, and along with Rhimes, they worked to "give Lexie's story appropriate . Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, What to know about Shigella bacteria as drug-resistant strain spreads, Closing arguments underway in double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students. LOS ANGELES -- A California family appealed Tuesday to the state's highest court in their fight to keep a 6-year-old foster child who was removed from their home after a lower court said her 1/64th Native American bloodline requires that she live with relatives. and
An independent clinical psychologist was brought in to gauge her ability to transition from the foster home to her relatives. The comments below have not been moderated, By
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